The Little Things
by Pokepal Karai Natsume
Summary: There is a secret being kept by Itsuki Koiziumi, SOS Brigade Second in Command, that no one else knows about. Kyon manages to set the stage for finding out just what that is.


**Author's Note: Okay. you know those times when you're half asleep and giggling at just about everything because it's suddenly become hilarious? Well... that led me to form this strange little idea.**

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I took my usual seat in the club room and brought out a new board game I'd picked up from a local store. Such games of strategy and luck are quite entertaining. If only the others thought as much. I'm lucky if I can get Kyon to play with me. Asahina remains in the dark about most games of this time period, and even though the instructions aren't difficult to understand, she prefers not to get involved. There is no reason to ask Nagato to play. She would be happier reading by the window side.

Kyon agreed to play my new game with me, and just as the board was set out I noticed an ant crawling on it. The poor creature must have crawled into the box at some point along the line. From where I am uncertain. If only I could use my powers to communicate with it and get a glimpse of it's home. Then I could return it. Ants truly are a noble race of beings. Strong, intelligent, purposeful.

As my thoughts went on, Kyon noticed the ant and promptly crushed him. It broke my heart just a bit to see that happen. It always does. I didn't realized I voiced those words until Kyon responded.

" It's just an ant. There are billions of them. Killing one isn't going to matter. Plus they're a nuisance."

" That's just the response I would expect from you." Someone who never saw things from their perspective could never understand. " Kyon. This is of no interest to the other three, but there is something I would like you to know. Would you mind stepping out into the hall with me?"

Suzumiya had not yet arrived, so he had no reason to deny my request. I had a feeling he might anyway, and oh well if he did. But he bit the hook I'd cast.

We both stood and exited the room.

"What do you need to tell me."

" It isn't something of great importance. From your standpoint. However, it is something I feel that you should know." I took a deep breath and let it out as a deep sigh before continuing. " Kyon. You know me as an Esper. Before I became such, I was an ordinary human like you. At least, this is how you perceive my story. What I did not tell you is that I was not always a human."

He gave me a strange look.

"Just what were you then."

"I was an ant." I said simply.

Kyon blinked at me. "Koizumi. That is the lamest joke you've ever tried to pull."

Brushing my revelation off, Kyon tried to push past me and reenter the clubroom. I blocked him. " I'm dead serious Kyon. You see, Suzumiya's abilities are quite strange indeed. Instead of starting out as a human who received special powers, I became a human who had these powers in an instant. It happened so suddenly, and I wandered around confused for a good long while. My mind could process much more than simple signals now. I was quite amazed."

Kyon's hand went to his forehead as if he were deep in thought. " Okay Koizumi. So first you give me the story that you became an Esper three years ago. And now you're trying to make me believe you were once an ant." He looked straight at me. " Look, the Esper thing I can believe, because I've seen it. But an ant? That just sounds insane."

I shrugged. " Many things do. Such as the very existence of aliens, time travelers, and espers."

He threw up a hand in defeat. " You know what, fine. I've seen so many things in the past few months, why not. Good to know you were once an ant Koizumi."

That carefree tone still had me unconvinced that he believed. Alright then.

I walked back into the clubroom with him. Instead of going back to the game as he had, I walked over to Nagato. " Would you mind doing me a favor?"

She looked up from the book she was reading and nodded to me. Good. She would cooperate.

" Then please change the data Suzumiya has altered for me back to it's original state."

Nagato raised her hand and mumbled something quickly. Then everything was different. I had returned to my original state, that of an ant. The world was giant as it had been once before. The room's scents were unfamiliar, and there were no others in site. No colony, no queen. Had to get outside to find others. Relying on that sole instinct I began to wander the room in search of any kind of crack I could crawl through. The others around me spoke as this was happening, but my mind was not capable of processing their speech patterns until later. For convenience, I will relay what they said.

" No. Way. Koizumi really is an ant?" Kyon was completely shocked and in total disbelief.

" Eeeeep!" Asahina cried out. She was clearly feeling the same was as she stumbled around, trying not to step on me. Nagato was completely silent.

Kyon sighed and then looked to the girls. " I don't suppose either of you used to be bugs, right? You're not a butterfly or something are you Asahina?"

"OH, n-no! I've always been this way."

Yuki simply blinked.

" Well. You'd better change him back before Haruhi gets here."

" I cannot."

Kyon's voice became a little worried. " Why can't you?"

" The initial alteration of data was done by Haruhi Suzumiya. I cannot replicate those conditions."

" What does that mean?"

" For Itsuki Koizumi to return to human form, Haruhi Suzumiya must say that he is a human. She must say so without a doubt."

Now, since I could not quite process things as a human could at the time, I think it is best for someone else to go on with what happened next. Thus I hand the story over to Kyon.

Shit.

" Uh-um. I'll catch him!" Asahina offered. She grabbed a paper cup and had Koizumi the ant crawl into it.

Of all the ridiculous things I've been told and made to believe over the past few months, this has to be the most ridiculous. And the most unnecessary. Why didn't Koizumi just keep something like that to himself?! I'd feel a whole lot better not knowing something that disturbing.

Haruhi suddenly burst into the room. " Hey guys I got an idea! Let's all go outside and kill some ants with a magnifying glass!" She held one up proudly as she made that statement. What was she, a gradeschooler?

" Can't think of anything else to do but torment some helpless ants, huh?" Speaking of helpless ant...

" Hey. Don't disagree with my ideas. Otherwise when we go out to the anthills you can stand in'em for the rest of the day, and on into the night!"

Whatever. Time to get to more important matters. " Haruhi. What is Koizumi to you?"

She looked at me like I'd just asked her what color the sky was. " My deputy Brigade Chief." The reply came slow and uncertain. " Why are you asking?"

Damn it. What could I say now?... This was hard...

" Well um..." Suddenly the light in my brain turned on. " What species do you think he is? You don't think he's an ant do you? Or anything else like a dog or cat or something?"

" Of course not. Koizumi's a person. You're acting weird Kyon. Do you need to go see the nurse?" She strode toward me, looking genuinely concerned. She touched my forehead lightly. " Hmmm you don't have any fever." And suddenly she slapped me upside the head. " So stop messing around and let's go burn some ants!"

I was dragged out of the room by my arm. Nagato rose wordlessly and followed. Asahina came out after her, holding the paper cup she'd captured Koizumi in.

There was an anthill outside next to a large tree. Plenty of sunlight shone through the leaves, hitting the anthill almost directly. This would give Haruhi all the light she needed to burn the ants with no thought to the fact that she was on the grass and this was a fire hazard.

As she was positioning her magnifying glass while the three of us looked on, I decided to keep bringing up Koizumi. She'd have to say what I wanted her to eventually.

" Hey Haruhi. Where do you think Koizumi is right now?"

She shrugged. " I dunno. Maybe he's got cleaning duty."

There was a crackling noise as ants that were trying to return to safety inside of their home instantly combusted to ash. Haruhi laughed. "Haha! Face the wrath of the Mighty Light From Above!"

" So would you say that Koizumi is like us?," I asked Miss Mighty Light From Above.

She turned from her tyranny to look at me. " In what way?"

" Um… well uh…" How to word this…. " Do you think his species is _homo sapiens?_

Haruhi blinked. " You mean a human? Well of course. What else would Koizumi be?"

An esper. I didn't say that aloud though.

Suddenly the paper cup Asahina had been holding burst to pieces, and what was inside it caused the beautiful girl to topple over.

Koizumi was now lying on top of Asahina, his head on her bosom, and both of them looked very confused.

Okay. You're human again Koizumi. Now get your damned ass off of her!

" What the?….," Haruhi stared at the sight in utter confusion.

Koizumi finally got off of Asahina. He probably hadn't been lying on her more than a minute or a little over. But that was still far too long. Even a mere second would have been too long.

" I… apologize. Asahina… she… was helping me with a magic trick. Saying... the word 'human' was the trigger." His words sounded fluid enough, yet he seemed to have a hard time getting them out. Like saying them was somehow strange.

"Oh." Haruhi nodded without a second thought. " I see. So that explains you just popping outta nowhere, and Kyon acting like an idiot! Nice trick. I'm impressed." It really pisses me off how she just buys his stories so easily.

" So…what is it we're doing out here Suzumiya?"

" Killing ants." Haruhi replied. She offered him the magnifying glass. " Here. You wanna turn?"

Koizumi looked startled for a moment, but smiled quickly to cover it up. " Actually, I have a better idea for an activity we can do. If you'll hear me out, that is."

" Sure. Why not?"

" I know of a person who will let us borrow a few kites. We can take them to the park and fly them. How does that sound?"

As expected, Haruhi's reaction was ecstatic. " Awesome! That's way better than this!" She threw her magnifying glass to the ground and grabbed Koizumi's arm. " Let's go get those kites!" With that she dragged him on ahead, not even knowing where it was she was going.

At this point, I should turn the story back over to Koizumi.

No, I think it will be better if you tell it Kyon.

But it's your story. It's not my business to tell it.

You're doing a fine job. Keep it up my friend.

You bastard.

So we flew kites that afternoon. They came borrowed from some guy in Koizumi's class who had constructed them in Art. We were the first to test them.

Asahina wasn't able to get her kite up once, even with Haruhi's guidance. Haruhi was the first to have hers catch air. After that was Nagato, then Koizumi and myself. My kite stayed pretty much on level with Koizumi's the entire time. Haruhi's soared above ours. Nagato's kite was gliding up and down, shifting positions from high to low as she handled the string. I offered some words of encouragement to Asahina, and even offered to get hers up for her. She was determined to do this on her own though, so I let her have at it.

This was actually pretty relaxing. By the time we were ready to leave the sun had started to set. Asahina had long since given up trying and had been sitting in the grass watching us.

On the walk back to school, Koizumi spoke to me about the earlier events of the day, which I had just about put out of my mind. " Now do you see that I was telling you the truth?"

I nodded. " Yes. But why was that important? You never needed to show me that."

" Perhaps I did. You shouldn't take small creatures for granted Kyon. In this kind of world, they could very well be or become someone close to you." I can't deny that his words made me feel just a little worried about that. Regardless of his own circumstances, I wasn't about to stop killing bugs because I suddenly thought they might be friends or relatives. That was absurd. Still… what if it were possible? If it was possible that Koizumi really was an ant at first, then he could be right about that.

I set that conflict aside as we headed on up to the clubroom and left the kites there. Koizumi would return them to his friend the next day. After that, we all got ready and left for home.

Later that night, just as I was about to fall asleep, I got this feeling. A sense that something was wrong. I tried to ignore it at first, but it kept nagging at me. Something wasn't right. I had the unshakable feeling that it had something to do with Haruhi.

My cell phone rang.

The only person I could think of who would call me this late would be the SOS Brigade's chief herself. I answered, wondering what she could possibly want from me. But it wasn't her voice that sounded from the other end of the line.

" Kyon. There's a problem." Koizumi.

I sighed. " Spit it out then."

" I was just contacted by the Agency. A closed space has appeared."

I started to ask why, but I remembered him mentioning something like this to me before. The most likely reason for closed space to appear in the middle of the night was because Haruhi was having a nightmare.

" Why do I need to know about this?"

He paused before answering. " Because I didn't."

Pay better attention then.

" It isn't that simple.," He sounded pretty serious. " Kyon.. Do you understand what this means?"

No. What does it mean?

" I am no longer an Esper."

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**Author's Note: This was really supposed to be a silly oneshot about Koizumi having a secret past as an ant. But this is the only way I can think to end it. O.o Should it continue? I might just kinda go on with a bunch of other silly ideas, but I dunno. I'll leave the status of this one as incomplete. If I decide to just end this one here then I'll switch it to complete.**


End file.
